A/N: Welcome to the first of an occasionally updated series of articles discussing tabletop gaming. Anything ranging from miniature war gaming to card games to pen-and-paper RPGs will be covered. This won't be updated as commonly or be as structured as my Let's Play! series. This will be, for lack of a better term, far more rambling in nature, less analytical then what I have been trying to go for with other features, and far more biased toward what I enjoy personally.

I'm going to be upfront right away. This is written for people who already have an understanding of the mechanics behind Warhammer 40K. I will be assuming you are familiar with both the current rules and previous editions of the game over the years. This isn't meant to be an entry level article. I'm not going to be too "Inside Baseball" for most people but I will not bedefining what an Armor Save, Overwatch, or Hull Points are either for those who don't know.

Ah, the glory of Chaos has returned.

My first introduction to the Ruinous Powers was back in Third Edition when the codex at that time allowed almost limitless customization of your army list. This was the first army I ever created for Warhammer 40k and if it weren't for the freedom I had in making the exact army I wanted I might never have stuck with the game. This codex was my bread and butter. I always knew I could be competitive, regardless of what someone brought to the table, with what was inside. As the game moved into 4th and then 5th edition, the new Chaos books were lackluster to say the least. I noticed more and more people using the same army list. If you knew that you were playing against Chaos Space Marines you knew exactly what they were going to bring. Gone were the days of variety replaced with a cookie-cutter list that everyone used since anything else would get mopped up readily.

All of that hopefully changes with this new codex.

This is the first full codex written for the new 6th edition rules and it really shows. Army specific warlord traits and psychic powers will almost always be taken over the generic ones in the main rule book. Several of the weapons use a lot of the more obscure special rules such as Soul Blaze, Blind, and Torrent. Also, the book REALLY encourages use of the new challenge mechanic during assaults with a table that rewards a victorious champion with dark blessings such as improved saves, stats, abilities, and even a chance to ascend to deamonhood if found worthy.

My beloved customization is back as well. Back is a robust wargear list as well as several blessings and gifts you can take to tailor your army any way you wish. Several new units are also added allowing even greater variety to be out there. Assault armies will still have Khorne Berserkers leading the way but you can add in massive hordes of Chaos Cultists backed up withheavy hitting Mutilators. Shooting lists can still rely on Thousand Suns and surprisingly Noise Marines since weapons that ignore cover are BIG with all the extra terrain out there now. The Helldrake comes with the excellent Hades Autocannon and a Vector Strike that will rip apart most other aircraft. Hopefully this combined the ability to take allies, Chaos Deamons being the obvious choice but there are other good combinations out there, will lead to a far greater variety of Chaos themed armies on the table.

The production values of the codex itself are improved as well. This is the first hardback codex and all the new rules, wargear, and options are summarized nicely in the back with a handy fold out chart. However, this DOES come witha 50$ price tag. To compare, the previous books were listed at 33$. Warhammer 40k is an expensive hobby and Games Workshop is known for increases costs almost yearly but this is a LARGE jump even for them. It won't discourage long time players who are used to prohibitively high costs, but it does keep new players from entering the hobby.

Cost aside, this is the new face of the 40k codex, and one I welcome with open arms.